The Dallas Stars hosted the Anaheim Ducks on Monday night with both teams hoping to rally from emotional victories.
The Ducks came into tonight’s contest on a high note after rallying from a two-goal deficit in a 6-4 comeback victory against the Detroit Red Wings on Friday (Nov. 15). The Stars came in winners of three straight, including a gritty 2-1 win against division opponent Minnesota Wild on Saturday.
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Jake Oettinger had the night off for the Stars, giving Casey DeSmith his sixth start of the season. The Ducks jumped on the backup early, recording two goals in the opening five minutes en route to a 4-2 victory. Lukas Dostal continued his brilliant start to the season, posting a clean sheet for the opening 43 minutes and limiting a Western Conference powerhouse to two goals on 36 shots.
Game Recap
For the second straight game, Olen Zellweger wasted no time opening the scoring for Anaheim. His shot immediately following an offensive zone faceoff gave the Ducks a lead only 56 seconds in. Zellweger scored on a similar setup just over a minute into Anaheim’s game on Friday against the Red Wings.
The Ducks continued to drive most of the play in the early going, with Brett Leason doubling their lead on a shot off the rush with 14:46 left in the opening frame. Anaheim built an 8-1 shot advantage, but Dallas settled in and reduced it to an 11-9 difference by the end of the period. Scoring chances in the opening frame were 10-6 in favor of the Stars.
Dallas continued to mount pressure in the second period, but could not crack Dostal. They had two clean breakaways and came up empty — Dostal stuffed Roope Hintz early in the period while Tyler Seguin rang his attempt off the crossbar. Despite the tilt in the play heavily favoring the Stars, the Ducks padded their lead with a power play goal from Cutter Gauthier. After going goalless in his first 16 career games, he’s found the net in back-to-back contests.
The Stars finally solved Dostal early in the third period when Esa Lindell finished a beautiful pass from Maverick Bourque with a shot that was redirected by Leason’s stick. The goal was Lindell’s 199th NHL point. Dallas kept Anaheim defending for the better part of the entire third period, and Matt Duchene’s goal with less than eight minutes left cut the lead to 3-2.
With all of the energy on the opposite end of the ice, Anaheim restored their two-goal lead on Jackson LaCombe’s second of the season. With a primary assist, Leason recorded the first three-point night of his career.
Anaheim held serve for the rest of the game and weathered an empty-net sequence to secure the 4-2 victory. This was Dallas’ first loss in the American Airlines Center, with their only other “home” loss coming in Finland against the Florida Panthers.
Game Notes and Up Next for Ducks and Stars
- With a win tonight, Anaheim’s record is now 39-83-5-10 all-time against the Stars and 13-50-2-4 in the American Airlines Center. This is the first win for the Ducks in Dallas since 2015.
- Ducks forward Brock McGinn was injured after colliding into the boards in the second period and did not return to the game.
- Ducks forward Ryan Strome skated in his 799th career game. His 800th will be tomorrow against the Chicago Blackhawks.
- Stars forward Mason Marchment recorded a secondary assist on Duchene’s goal, giving him 10 points in his last four games and 100 assists in his career.
- Stars forward Tyler Seguin has zero goals in 29 regular season games against the Ducks.
The Ducks (7-8-2) will board a plane for Chicago tonight as the club concludes its road back-to-back tomorrow against the Blackhawks. The Stars (11-6-0) will wrap up their brief two-game homestand against the San Jose Sharks on Wednesday.
Advanced data courtesy of Natural Stat Trick.
